Curiosity was on Mars wind map

16/11/2012

Curiosity took up apart from the search for extraterrestrial life on Mars and study its soil, the study of weather typical of the Red Planet. Rover, located in Gale Crater is a map of the winds, writes WebPro News. Experts somewhat surprised by the findings, as they expected the wind is blowing in the crater in the direction of the slope of Mount Sharp, as well as from her. But the winds are blowing, as it turned out, just at the edge of the crater. NASA experts have suggested that this is the reason for the lack of strong dust storms in the area.

Curiosity thoroughly studied the atmospheric pressure on Mars, setting out the influence of the level of radioactivity of his condition. In NASA inclined to believe that the Martian atmosphere protects the planet from cosmic radiation. All data from the instruments rover prove this theory: the level of radioactivity at high atmospheric pressure fell, and, on the contrary, increased low. "We have established certain laws relating to thermal tides in the atmosphere," - said one of the researchers.

In the atmosphere of Mars is not unlike the Earth’s strong magnetic field, which allows us to reach charged radioactive particles to the surface of the Red Planet. If we talk about the difference in variations, then on Mars between day and night time of day it is 10%. This is due to the influence of the sun, which heats the atmosphere in the afternoon.

Employees of NASA added that at the moment Curiosity is the large accumulation of sand. The spacecraft has already performed the sampling of soil and made their analysis using a special spectrometer. It is expected that within a few days of the study would be transmitted to the Earth rover.